Rate My Professor Andrew Childs

Dr. Andrew Childs serves as a Lecturer in Criminology at Griffith University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, within the Arts, Education and Law group. Appointed to this position in 2022, he previously served as a doctoral candidate in the same school. Childs teaches courses including 3027CCJ ICT and the Justice System. He is a member of the Griffith Criminology Institute and has co-organized events such as the Digital Methods for Researching Crime and Harm Symposium and the AI and Crime Symposium 2025. His expertise lies in the human factors of cybercrime and online illicit markets, encompassing cryptomarkets, social media and encrypted messaging apps for drug supply, scam victimization in cryptocurrency communities, platformisation of illicit drug markets, and emerging technologies in cybercrime communities.

Childs has produced 12 peer-reviewed publications, accumulating over 345 citations. His highly cited works include "#Drugsforsale: An exploration of the use of social media and encrypted messaging apps to supply and access drugs" (Moyle et al., 2019, International Journal of Drug Policy, 274 citations), "Evolving and diversifying selling practices on drug cryptomarkets: An exploration of off-platform ‘direct dealing’" (Childs et al., 2020, Journal of Drug Issues, 61 citations), "Do online illicit drug market exchanges afford rationality?" (Childs et al., 2020, Contemporary Drug Problems, 26 citations), "Beyond the dark web: Navigating the risks of cannabis supply over the surface web" (Childs et al., 2022, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 40 citations), "‘I guess that’s the price of decentralisation…’: Understanding scam victimisation experiences in an online cryptocurrency community" (Childs, 2024, International Review of Victimology, 19 citations), and "The platformisation of illicit drug markets: How datafication, technological affordances, and platform-mediated labour practices shape illicit drug markets" (Childs, 2025). He has contributed to research on returns fraud, the distribution of fake vaccine certificates, and policy submissions on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. Childs' scholarship advances understanding of online criminal behaviors, risk navigation in illicit digital spaces, and the evolution of cyber-dependent crimes.